Quick Take
Summary is AI generated, newsroom reviewed.
Nani addressed Salman Khan’s comments regarding South audience habits.
Khan claimed South audiences don’t watch Bollywood films in theaters.
Nani emphasized long-standing love for Hindi films in the South region.
New Delhi:
Nani, who is gearing up for the release of HIT 3, reacted to Salman Khan’s comment that the South audience doesn’t watch Bollywood films in a recent interview with DNA. Salman Khan, during the promotions of Sikandar last month, said the South audience doesn’t go to theatres to watch Hindi films, whereas, the Hindi industry embraced their films.
In an interview with DNA, Nani said, “Woh (Hindi) original hai, yeh (South) baad mein aaya. Yeh South ko jo pyaar mil raha hai, woh recent hai. Magar jo Bollywood ko pyaar milta hai South mein, woh toh decades se hai. Waha har ek aadmi ko aap punchenge ‘Aapka favourite Hindi film konsi hai’, toh they will have childhood memories of Amitabh Bachchan. They will talk about so many films. So we always watched (Hindi) films – Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dil Toh Pagal Hai, were blockbusters in Hyderabad and other southern states. Everyone is now lapping South, but Hindi cinema always lapped up across the country.”
“Nahi, waha nahi chale? Bina chale kaise superstar ban gaye? 100% chalti hai (No, they didn’t work there? How did they become superstars without being watched across the country? They definitely work 100%), and we all love him. We’ve all watched so many of Salman’s films. Movies like Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! hold cultural importance there. Didi Tera Devar Deewana and other songs – we used to play them at our wedding,” Nani reacted to Salman’s statement.
For the unversed, Salman Khan said that his films didn’t pull in viewers in the South. “When my film is released there, it doesn’t get the numbers because their fan following is very strong. I’ll walk on the street, and they’ll say, ‘Bhai, Bhai’, but they won’t go to the theatres. The way we’ve accepted them here hasn’t happened there. Their films do well because we go and see them – like those of Rajinikanth sir, Chiranjeevi garu, Suriya or Ram Charan. But their fans don’t go to see our films.”
Meanwhile, HIT 3, directed by Sailesh Kolanu, stars Nani and Srinidhi Shetty in the lead roles, alongside Adil Pala, Rao Ramesh, Brahmaji, and Maganti Srinath. It is set to hit cinemas on May 1.
